Yale alum and proprietor of the Nail Yale blog, Clint Taylor, emails to say that Yale looks to be manuevering to save face and rid itself, by way of a change in its special students program standards, of former Taliban mouthpiece, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi.

Of paramount importance to Yale, one suspects, is not looking like they caved to pressure from knuckledragging xenophobes like Taylor and other judgmental western hegemons on the political right, hairy racists who, when they aren’t still carping about Yale’s admissions policies, are probably parading placards of aborted fetuses outside of Planned Parenthood or lined up along the southern border in lawnchairs, drinking Miller Genuine Draft by the twelve pack and guarding God’s country against an infestation of wannabe melon pickers.  For Jesus!

Writes Clint, under the headline “Cryptic but Important Yale Press Release: Deciphering the Code”:

Today Yale’s President Levin released a statement about the standards of Yale’s two “special student” programs.  Although it does not mention Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, I think this is extremely relevant to his case.  If you go plow through Levin’s language, keep in mind that:

1.  SRH is currently in the “Non-degree Special Students Program”; and

2.  SRH has announced his intent to apply for the “Eli Whitney Special Students Program,” which does grant a Yale B.A.

OK? Bear that in mind when you read the last paragraph:

Pending the outcome of this further review, decisions on admission to the non-degree program for 2006-07 will adhere to the published standard, and the standard for admission to the degree-granting Eli Whitney program will be equivalent to that applied to candidates for regular admission to Yale College, recognizing that in assessing more mature candidates, relatively more weight should be given to achievement than potential.

Now this may be wishful thinking on my part, but I take that to mean that when applying for a slot in the Whitney program, Hashemi will be held to the extremely competitive standards most Yale students must face.  He won’t get a pass based on what he might be able to do in the future, but will be judged according to what he has done. 

His Afghan G.E.D. won’t be of much help here, and if “achievement” is to be his benchmark, well, I’ve spent some time on this site documenting his achievements — defending Osama bin Laden, advising Mullah Omar, rationalizing the capital punishment of Christian activists and the assignment of identity badges to religious minorities.  His achievements are victories for totalitarianism, for fundamentalism, and defeats for progress, for freedom, and for America. While these achievements may be grounds for admission to a War Crimes tribunal, they’re not grounds for admission to Yale.

At least I hope not.  Because now that Yale has gone out on a limb and said explicitly that they are admitting special students on the basis of past achievement and not on the basis of potential, and if they still let the Boola Boola Mullah in–well, then, I have not yet begun to fight.

But I don’t think they’re that dumb.  I think they’ve found a way out that doesn’t involve admitting or confronting the nihilistic culture that made them think bringing Rahmatullah here was a good idea.  I think they’re laying the groundwork to reject him, without looking like they were pressured into it […].

Here’s more, from the Yale Daily News.

It would be interesting to see Hashemi forced to compete for his slot against other educated Afghans—though doubtless he’d have the more impressive list of extracurricular activities and community service. 

After all, fingernails just don’t pull themselves out—and it no doubt takes considerable effort to pitch a shrieking, wriggling Kush queer off the top of a wall, even if you’re only doing so in spirit, then traveling the world, justifying it in the name of your God during those lazy afternoons in the Yale quad…